Some things are timeless and our mental image of many other things does not change with time. The pyramids have not changed in appearance for several thousand years. We were recently driving through the desert of the southwest and much of this remains unchanged and is the same as viewed by the Indians.

Even though some things age and die, our mental image remains the same through the years. For example, on this day, August 5th 1962. Marilyn Monroe died. If she were alive today she would be 84 years old. I just can’t imagine Marilyn as 84 or in a nursing home. My mental picture will always be of her standing with her skirt blowing up to reveal her perfect legs. She became a pop and cultural icon much like Elvis Presley. Those two will always remain the same to me. A lot of movie stars are like that. I prefer for them to stay young and vigorous looking. It bothers me to see folks like Willian Shatner as an overweight guy in a suit on TV commercials rather than as a thinner Captain Kirk of the Starship Enterprise.

Whenever I visit the gravesite of a relative or someone I have known, I usually have a mental image of that person as I knew them at their peak in life. Usually, the image is as I saw them through the eyes of a child.

When I see folks who were classmates in high school, they are still teenagers in my minds eye. It’s sort of like the picture of Dorian Gray. I always picture them as youthful but don’t see the aging picture.

I guess I have adapted or adjusted to my aging self. I’m sure, if a person from my teenage years was seeing me for the first time since those years, I would be unrecognizable. To me, I haven’t changed in spite of all the weight and wrinkles. The main thing that hasn’t changed is my inner self even thought it has been battered and bruised from experience. I still like westerns, the music of my younger years and Mark Twain. There is an inner spark in all of us that survives the slings and arrows of time.

Time itself is an interesting concept. If we understood more about it then maybe we would understand things like the earths creation, space and even religion. Hopefully, that inner spark in most folks is timeless. Unfortunately, that inner spark in many people is bad and needs to be extinguished. Maybe the creator will take care of that.

That’s some heavy thoughts from the porch. It’s time to get back to watching a good western even though most of these are repeats, but I like repeats.